The top American commander in Iraq said Wednesday he was preparing recommendations on troop cuts before he returns to Washington next month for a report to Congress. He projected the U.S. footprint in Iraq would have to be "a good bit smaller" by next summer.
But Gen. David Petraeus cautioned against a quick or significant American pullout that could surrender "the gains we have fought so hard to achieve." He declined to offer specifics on upcoming recommendation.
According to the AP, Petraeus also said the "horrific and indiscriminate attacks" that killed at least 250 Yazidis, an ancient religious sect, in northwestern Iraq on Tuesday were the work of al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters. The suicide bombings occurred near the Syrian border, and U.S. officials charge Damascus has not done enough to police the frontier against infiltration by foreign fighters who dominate al-Qaeda.
The general, who wrote the Army's book on counterinsurgency, said he and his staff were "trying to do the battlefield geometry right now" as he prepared his troop-level recommendations. "We know that the surge has to come to an end. There's no question about that. I think everyone understands that by about a year or so from now we've got to be a good bit smaller than we are right now.
"The question is how do you do that ... so that you can retain the gains we have fought so hard to achieve and so you can keep going. Again we are not at all satisfied where we are right now. We have made some progress but again there's still a lot of hard work to be done against the different extremist elements that do threaten the new Iraq."
